I though it would be a neat idea to start a tips and tricks thread dedicated to sharing the little hacks, tricks, protips and the like that we’ve all picked up over time, and thus allow us to pool our knowledge and share solutions to common problems many of us encounter during builds.
In my quest to upgrade my current frankenboard with new wheels (which means I need new motor mounts too ) I’ve come across a couple new things to keep in mind when making design choices that may save you a headache down the road.
Since I’m designing and making my own mounts from scratch, that means selecting the fasteners to hold everything together. This has led to some hair-tearing and general annoyance as I have made poor design choices and had to rethink them.
One thing that has become a major design rule that I now intend to live by is: Use the strongest fasteners you can get your hands on. Don’t cheap out. grade 12.9 screws aren’t that much more expensive than grade 8.8 screws, and they’re far stronger.
A secondary part of that is: Avoid using stainless fasteners unless you have to. They’re pretty and rust resistant, but they’re a lot less strong than alloy fasteners. Metric stainless screws are about the equivalent of grade 5.5, which is less than half as strong as a grade 12.9 equivalent.
A third part is: Use fasteners with the largest head/drive/socket you can. For me, this means using socket head cap screws instead of button head screws, because for the same screw size, socket head cap screws have a bigger hex. This means they’re far less likely to strip than button head screws.
Ooooo fasteners. I myself am upgrading the clamping piece to my mounts which will include 12.9 fasteners. Really though, I don’t think anyone can strip an M6 cap screw that is A2 stainless. You would have to do something very very wrong, or use a massive breaker bar.
Get a set of “Wera Hex-Plus” wrenches, if you haven’t already. They are excellent, and may even be able to remove a stripped screw (depending on the degree to which they are stripped)
Always over design. That mount that “should hold” or that battery connection that “probably won’t disconnect” will end up doing exactly that. Save the stress and save money, and do it right the first time.
Plan to spend 4x your original budget…
Maybe.
But never ever buy motor mounts or pulley kits that are less than htd3 and avoid using ebay for most things. And duct tape, have lots and lots of duct tape
Sometimes there’s no need to drill the board. I used Velcro on my trampa for esc and battery.
i put a little bit of hot silicone at the borders so it does not move a mm. It resists vibrations and can be “almost” easily removed (you need to pull hard)
Blu tack and sugru are pretty much the same. Blu tack is softer and easier to remove and mold again therefore i prefer blu tack for that mod. Sugru is better for other kind of things.
) I’ve come across a couple new things to keep in mind when making design choices that may save you a headache down the road.
